After winning last week’s Xiamen Challenge on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan climbed back up to number seven in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking. The former world’s number one team has not been this high in the chart since early November 2023. Meanwhile, well-seasoned Finns Taru Lahti-Liukkonen & Niina Ahtiainen, who took women’s silver in China, surged to number 12, the pair’s highest ever placement in the World Ranking. Last week’s runners-up of the CSV South American Beach Volleyball Tour Finals in Iquique also reached important new highs in the World Ranking, with Brazil’s Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes surging to number two in the women’s chart and Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso & Tomas Capogrosso reaching number three on the men’s side.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Men

Cherif & Ahmed pocketed 480 of the 800 World Ranking points that came with their Challenge gold in Xiamen to improve to a 5,260-point total, enough for gaining three positions in the chart and moving from a joint number 10 to number seven. On the way up, they surpassed Poland’s Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak, the former Dutch pairing of Steven van de Velde & Matthew Immers and Norway’s Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol.

The Tokyo 2020 bronze medalists had not earned any Beach Pro Tour gold since the Maldives Challenge back in October 2022, when they were number six in the World Ranking. After that, they even went up to number two for a few weeks until January 2023. The Qatari duo held up among the top seven until November 6, 2023, after which they dropped below that position until this Monday’s update.

The finalists at last week’s South American Tour Finals in Chile also gained some ground within the top 10 of the men’s ranking. 2025 continental champions Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci of Brazil ascended from number six to number five, overtaking Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler of Germany, while runners-up Capogrosso & Capogrosso jumped over Dutchmen Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot into the number three spot, their best placement ever.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Women

The women’s continental finalists in Chile last week also made important shifts up the chart. The recently formed Brazilian pairing of Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti claimed the South American title and 800 points towards the World Ranking and, with only five qualifying tournaments on record, have already climbed to number 11.

Continental silver medalists Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes, also of Brazil, moved two spots up from their previous high and are now the new number two team in the world, only 20 points below number one Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann of Germany and 260 points above number three Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft of the United States.

In the women’s competition in Xiamen, Finland’s Lahti & Ahtiainen claimed silver, reaching the fifth Beach Pro Tour final in the team’s history. The 16^th place they were occupying in the World Ranking during the two weeks before the event in China was already their highest ever, but the Xiamen silver brought them 760 points, of which they netted 380, enough for a leap of four positions up to number 12.

Xiamen gold medalists Toni Rodriguez & Kylie Kuyava-De Berg of the United States, who are a relatively new team, naturally also rose to a new high, but with only five qualifying tournaments behind them, they stand in number 42.

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